IMAAD & Willowbrook Farm – An Ongoing Partnership

Introduction

Willowbrook Farm, located in Oxford, is owned and run by a Muslim couple, Lutfi and Ruby Ridwan, and their four young kids. The farm is mainly a poultry farm, offering free-range eggs and poultry raised in accordance with organic standards of farming.

As this is a fairly new venture for the Ridwan’s, who have no background in farming, establishing the farm and setting it up is proving to be a demanding job. At IMAAD we feel that the Muslim community needs to support people like the Ridwan’s, who are braving the immense difficulties of running a farm in order to provide their kids and the community in general with halal, quality food products. We therefore went to spend the day with them to see what sort of challenges they face and how the Reading community can be of service to them.

Support

Needless to say what they are doing is extremely hard work. We came back from that trip feeling that they can use all the help they can get, and that we should do our bit in providing that help. For this reason IMAAD has committed to helping in the establishment of Willowbrook Farm whenever and however we can, inshaAllah. This includes encouraging our members to regularly volunteer their time and effort at the farm, doing pretty much anything that needs doing – this could include collecting eggs, putting up fences, tree planting, feeding the hens, etc.

The Future

This is a long-term project, and will probably become absorbed into the newly developed environment group set up within Imaad. Our long-term expectations for this project are that it should eventually become a farm that the Muslim community can not only be proud of, but a farm from which the entire community can benefit. Who knows, this may be the beginning of many Muslim-owned farms up and down the country, committed to doing things the Islamic and environmentally-friendly way, inshaAllah.

If you are interested in getting involved with this project, and are willing to volunteer your time and effort into developing and establishing Willowbrook Farm, please email your contact details to info@imaad.org and we will keep you informed of all developments and volunteering opportunities. Thank you.

NB. Families with kids are more than welcome at the farm, as there is plenty for kids to do there.